Buy now, pay later keeps working its way deeper into how South Africans shop. From 15 July, PayJustNow went live on Bash, TFG's fast-growing online store, letting shoppers split a purchase into three interest-free instalments or stretch bigger buys over 12 months on its "Pay in 12" plan. It extends a partnership that already runs across 29 TFG brand and lifestyle stores, now following the customer online.
Why Bash matters
The move lands exactly where TFG's growth is. In its latest results, the retailer reported that online sales in TFG Africa jumped 49.2%, a sign of how much heavier digital is getting even in a tough consumer market. Adding a flexible-payment option at checkout is a way to nudge hesitant shoppers over the line on fashion, beauty, homeware and electronics. "Customers increasingly expect flexibility throughout their shopping journey, including how they pay," said Bash co-founder Luke Jedeikin.
The numbers behind the pitch
PayJustNow is not a minnow. It says it has more than a million active customers at any given time, and signs up over 100,000 new users a month. Its typical three-instalment basket is about R1,400, with customers placing an average of 13 orders, while its Pay in 12 product runs closer to R2,500. Those repeat-purchase numbers are the real sell to retailers: buy now, pay later is less about a single sale than about keeping engaged shoppers coming back.
For consumers, the appeal is obvious in a stretched economy, but so is the risk of spreading spending you cannot comfortably repay. "By launching on Bash, we are giving them more choice online, while helping retailers connect with engaged shoppers who already understand and use PayJustNow," said PayJustNow COO Dean Hyde. The bigger question is how far buy now, pay later keeps spreading across South African checkouts, and how regulators respond as it does.
PayJustNow, for its part, frames flexible payment as a retail weapon rather than a favour. "Flexible payments are becoming part of the customer experience. They can support conversion at checkout, help protect and boost basket value, and encourage repeat purchasing over time," Hyde said, adding that the Bash launch is part of a wider push to put the option wherever South Africans choose to shop. Note the split in the product: the three-instalment plan is interest-free, but the longer Pay in 12 option carries interest, so the "flexibility" is not always free.
